LOS ANGELES—I’m the super­vising editor for NBC’s “The Voice,” which is produced by MGM Television and recorded on the Universal Studios lot. I was the first editor hired on the show 15 years ago, and I’ve been on every episode since—that’s 700 episodes and nearly 1,100 hours of broadcast programming over the last 15 years.

We use Avid as our editing solution. The major advantage of using Avid is we start and finish everything in Avid. From offline to final online to color, everything is done inside of that.

Right now, we have about 35 editors, including about eight to 10 assistant editors. I think another dozen producers and story producers are also all accessing the media, all able to see everything, and they’re all remote. And I don’t mean we have some in Burbank and some in L.A. We have people in North Carolina; we have people in Virginia. We’ve had people in Maine and Japan; we’ve had people all over the world working on our show.

A Unified Solution
Having one, unified program that handles all of that has been absolutely beneficial and the cornerstone of our being on the air. I don’t think there’s any other production that hits the Avid hardware and software nearly as hard as we do.

I’m on Media Composer with the Symphony option and so are two of my online editors. The reason for that is we start and finish everything on “The Voice” inside of Avid, including color, final online and output of the master.

We use a lot of image stabilization. Those save our show because it’s a huge concert, and those cameras jiggle, and there’s nothing worse than seeing your artist or your coach jiggling around. I’d say easily between 600 to 900 stabilizations will be done in a two-hour episode.

We also use the “Animatte” effect in Media Composer for multiple reasons. We don’t like to break the fourth wall by showing camera people running through the audience, so we use that to duplicate audience members to hide cameras. We want viewers to be engaged in the performance, and if you see some guy running across the stage with a camera, that kind of pulls you out of it. Avid gives us the proper tools to maintain our illusion, to maintain the moment, without having to go to an external program.

Creating a Uniform Feel
Every episode of “The Voice” is a challenge because of the nature of the show. In an average two-hour episode, we introduce 13 to 15 new “characters,” if you will. Each story needs to have a life of its own, but we have to have some type of uniform feel to the show so when you turn it on, you recognize “The Voice” for what it is.

Our editors are constantly striving to give enough individuality to each of the story pods to showcase each artist individually, as well as maintain a high level of editorial status and make sure that editors are also as creative as possible, but without going completely astray.

We know our audience has faith in what we do and what we say about our show is real. When the first note comes out of an artist on stage—with the coaches’ backs to them in their chairs—that is the first time coaches hear them or see them when they turn. The audience sees our artists in their stories beforehand, but the coaches don’t get any of that information. It is legitimate; that’s the first note that the coaches ever hear. ●

More information is available at www.avid.com.

BURLINGTON, Mass.—Avid has introduced Media Composer 2024.6 of its video editing software, offering a new Transcript Tool for PhraseFind, enhanced compatibility with Avid’s Pro Tools audio production software and expanded availability of Avid Huddle, the company’s cloud service for real-time collaborative editing sessions.

The latest version enhances Avid PhraseFind with the Avid Ada AI. The new Transcript Tool allows editors to work more efficiently by letting them jump to specific moments in a clip based on spoken phrases, editing directly from selections in the transcript into the timeline, the company said. 

Media Composer 2024.6 also improves integration with Pro Tools, adding support for sub-frame automation for volume and pan, improving compatibility with Pro Tools and providing editors with more creative control. Pro Tools also can now export Media Composer-compatible session files that preserve essential metadata, it said. 

The release makes Avid Huddle available for all versions of Media Composer and Avid | Edit On Demand. Editors can stream the audio/video output of Media Composer directly to collaborators connected via Microsoft Teams, allowing for real-time reviews, time-stamped annotations and discussion. Time-based text comments can be imported back into Media Composer as markers to streamline content revisions, the company said.

More information is available on the company’s website.

BURLINGTON, Mass.—As the steady growth of video viewing intensifies the already acute demand for media production talent, Avid has announced plans to make its full-powered Media Composer editing software free to all college/post-secondary students aspiring to learn the editing craft and launch careers working in Hollywood, TV, streaming services and other media sectors.  

“Our Media Composer for Students program synthesizes the input of educators, creatives and media executives alike to make access as easy as possible for everyone,” Jeff Rosica, CEO and president of Avid said. “Together, we’re unlocking more ways to solve media and entertainment’s urgent need for a deep pool of high caliber talent, while enabling more young people to differentiate themselves with the qualifications that film and journalism schools, employers and others will instantly recognize.” 

The move is part of Avid’s new Media Composer for Students program. Learning institutions can sign up as entry-level Avid Learning Affiliates at www.avid.com/media-composer/for-students to ensure their students will gain hands-on experience with the media & entertainment industry’s requisite editing tool. 

Upon joining, a school makes every one of its enrolled students eligible for software licenses. This completely free initiative also includes teacher training and lesson materials for schools intending to establish a video editing curriculum, or re-orient existing programs toward delivering highly sought-after proficiency with Media Composer.  

Following their graduation from school, career-track storytellers will also receive up to two years of deeply discounted Media Composer | Ultimate subscriptions (retailing today for $499/year)—allowing them to stay current on Avid’s continuous feature releases. 

In announcing the program, Avid noted that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting that employment of film and video editors will grow 12% from 2021 to 2031, much faster than the average for all occupations. 

Media Composer for Students is one of several initiatives shaped by Avid in partnership with its customers to enable more people to enter media production professions. Among these are the global Avid Community Association, where over 40,000 people at all levels of experience, including students, collaborate on shaping the future of media; and Avid’s new Badges & Digital Credentials program to help certified Avid users prominently display their valuable skills to employers. 

“What’s most exciting about this program is that it gives both immediate value and a long-lasting boost with the crucial tools to students who are getting ready to start out on their careers,” said American Film Institute Conservatory’s Editing Discipline Head Robert Ivison, ACE. “Media Composer is the language of professional production. When you’re fluent, you get recognized and you get work.” 

BURLINGTON, Mass.—Avid has unveiled the latest version of Media Composer with several new features that significantly speed up the post production process between editorial and audio post teams and produce significant production efficiency by bringing video and audio post teams and workflows closer together. 

One key development is closer integration with Pro Tools. With the upgrade, Media Composer sequences can be directly exported into Pro Tools with video, audio and metadata combined into one export .PTX file that can be opened directly in Pro Tools.

This new capability enables teams to complete projects faster and eliminate costly, time-consuming mistakes, while accelerating content creation and delivery for post production workflows, Avid said. 

Avid noted that this is the first step in delivering ground-breaking collaborative workflows between Media Composer and Pro Tools, which was identified as a critical need during customer workshops and will allow Avid to introduce a differentiated set of capabilities not available in the market today.

“Media Composer interoperability with Pro Tools was accelerated by collaborating with the Avid Community Association to deliver the workflow enabler our industry has been asking for to accelerate production of high-quality content,” said David Colantuoni, vice president, product management video and media solutions, Avid. “The ability to easily export files into Pro Tools, combined with the expanded ‘remote editorial’ experience in Media Composer, enables production teams to more easily complete projects on time and on budget.”

The new version also offers full support for Avid’s completely reimagined MBOX Studio audio interface, providing editors with a powerful solution for recording, punch-ins and multichannel monitoring of sequences in up to 7.1 surround sound. Access to the exceptional preamps and audio converters in MBOX Studio also enables users to capture every sonic nuance of every performance with low-latency monitoring.

Other improved features include:  

• Improved Media Management. Avid said it has improved Media Composer’s groundbreaking media management capabilities by simplifying the media relink workflow and improving performance around the ability to find paths to previously linked files. Users can locate all content within the relink window to easily re-establish broken paths and avoid losing time searching for a file’s previous locations.
• Simplified UI for New Users. Media Composer now includes a new project creation setting that creates the project format from the editor’s media with one click. The enhanced UI also generates default bins and offers suggestions to guide a new user through project set-up, enabling new users, students and editing teams alike to easily initiate the editing process.
• Remote Editing and Proxy Workflow Capabilities. Continuing to enable the industry’s sharp rise in remote collaboration, Avid has enhanced the remote editing experience and seamless integration of the Media Composer | Enterprise editing tool and the Avid NEXIS® | EDGE solution. This integration enables editing teams to better collaborate on projects while working remotely in post production environments. Remote production teams using Media Composer can collaborate more efficiently by using Avid NEXIS | EDGE to build innovative proxy workflows. This enables editors to seamlessly flip between high-resolution and proxy content from a single click and with no relinking required, saving production teams time and reducing complexity.
• Content Review Capabilities for Editors. Media Composer’s new Multiplex IO feature enhances the “over the shoulder” experience by giving users the ability to have up to 10 active I/O plug-ins simultaneously. This allows output from Media Composer to multiple streaming platforms and devices through SRT (Secure Reliable Transport), NDI and any connected and supported I/O hardware, enabling local monitoring while streaming to remote viewers. This integration enables editing teams to better collaborate on projects while working remotely in post production environments, Avid reported. 

More information is available at https://www.avid.com/media-composer.

BURLINGTON, Mass.—Post-production technology rental company QSR Systems is signing a 10-year software subscription agreement with Avid, which expands the company’s supply of creative tools to broadcast and film clients.

As part of the deal, QSR has doubled its available pool of Avid Media Composer editing system licenses, which are available either on premises or in the cloud. The deal was assisted by Avid reseller MelroseMAC.

“We’re taking full advantage of Avid’s subscription program to ensure we’ll retain the flexibility our clients can rely on for a very long time to come,” said Doug Cavaliere, president, QSR Systems.

“Today, more than ever, studios and broadcasters need fast access to highly cost-conscious and flexible solutions through close partners that are ready to change how they’re collaborating to help keep production commitments on track,” said Tom Cordiner, chief revenue officer, Avid. “At Avid, we’re very pleased that our subscription offerings are being put to work to give new strategic strength to key players in the media and entertainment ecosystem like QSR Systems.”

For more information, visit www.avid.com.  

BURLINGTON, Mass.—Avid is releasing the latest edition of its flagship Media Composer video editing software, Media Composer 2020.

Among the main new features for Media Composer 2020 are a redesigned customizable user interface, a new Universal Media Engine, finishing and delivery tools and support for Apple ProRes for Windows and Catalina.

Media Composer 2020 features improvements to the paneled user interface for increased ease of use and faster editing and mastering. There is also a new Timeline Sequence Map that lets creators navigate their entire sequence without taking up the whole screen, while the Black Panel is meant to unclutter the UI and stop panels from resizing.

Expanding on the editing and finishing capabilities Avid added a year ago, Media Composer 2020 users can now fine-tune color with greater precision and make more granular gain value adjustments when working in ACES spaces. High-resolution and HDR projects can be finished with color precision and interoperability, per Avid.

The Universal Media Engine helps accelerate workflows by reducing reliance on QuickTime for improved media importing, playback, editing and export performance. The media engine increases processing speed of hi-res HDR media and provides native support for a wider range of formats. Media Composer 2020 also enhances a user’s ability to create content for mobile video platforms and social media with 9x16 and 1:1 Mask Margins and FrameFlex framing pre-sets.

The expanded support for Apple ProRes now lets Window users create, edit, collaborate and export ProRes media natively with encoding supported on Windows machines for media creation and exporting to .MOV export, MXF oP1a and MXF OP-Atom workflows. It can also be used on Apple’s latest macOS, Catalina.

In addition, Media Composer | Enterprise has expanded its role-based customization capabilities to enable users to deploy or update site settings across an organization, and deploy user settings independently to individuals or groups without impacting any existing site settings.

Media Composer 2020 has editions for beginners, teams and large media enterprises. It is now available.

For more information, visit www.avid.com/mediacomposer.  

CHESEAUX, Switzerland & PHOENIX—Nagr has released a new forensic watermarking plug-in for editing and collaboration workflows on Avid’s Media Composer video editing software. The content protection and multiscreen TV solutions provider says the NexGuard Plug-In for Editing Software allows studios, content owners and post-production houses to ensure protection when sharing pre-release content.

The integration between Nagra and Avid is designed to simplify the watermarking process within the editing software, while providing traceability and a deterrent against leaks. Media Composer is the first non-linear editing software to be integrated with the Nagra plug-in.

The plug-in works as a simple video filter, able to easily add a unique forensic watermark that is imperceptible, per Nagra, to each copy of the content exported from the non-linear editing software, regardless of input and output file formats.

NexGuard Plug-in for Editing Software is supported by the NexGuard Detection Service, a cloud-based, automated forensic watermark detection service.

For more information, visit Nagra’s virtual NAB showcase. 

LOS ANGELES—As an Emmy Award-winning television production company that works with some of the biggest names in content production, it’s vital for us to be able to remotely collaborate with directors, producers and editors across the country. The ability to treat somebody based thousands of miles away as though they’re in the same building lets us work with the most talented filmmakers around, as well as a range of different networks and digital platforms.

Enabling this remote collaboration was a key factor when designing our new 14,000-square-foot production hub in New York. We needed a post-production infrastructure that would allow the team to focus on producing quality content, and Avid’s technology stood head and shoulders above the rest.

NEXT-LEVEL COLLABORATIVE WORKFLOWS

We had two goals in mind when designing our new technical infrastructure: meet the ever-changing needs of our creative teams and future-proof the company as technology continues to evolve.

Shared projects are part and parcel of our daily activities, so we needed a solution that would give us access to the best editors around by allowing editorial teams to seamlessly collaborate together. It also had to provide assurances for reliability and scalability, and Avid’s technology comprehensively ticked all of these vital boxes.

With just six weeks to build the infrastructure, we worked with Avid partner T2 Computing and chose 20 Media Composer | Ultimate editing workstations along with an Avid NEXIS | E4 software-defined storage system as the backbone of our post-production environment. With Avid NEXIS shared storage in place, our teams can share and access media assets with anyone, wherever they are—thereby providing the real-time editorial collaboration benefits we need.

This ability to utilize shared storage wherever we find a talented editor is extremely exciting and presents a huge number of opportunities for potential projects—particularly as the Avid-based talent pool is so rich. We can now develop high-quality content anywhere, safe in the knowledge that the platform will meet future requirements.

We’re already busy developing content in New York for the likes of You-Tube, HBO and CNBC, all enabled by the collaborative infrastructure built on Avid.

A PLATFORM FOR FUTURE GROWTH

As anyone working in the media and entertainment industry knows, one of the biggest challenges is dealing with the growing demands that are being placed on post-production teams. Businesses have to be able to adapt to both new projects and new technologies, including larger file formats such as 4K and 8K.

As a company, we want to be seen as an innovator and technology leader, and Avid has also helped us in this area. Avid’s solutions are viewed as being ahead of the curve, which has improved our ability to adapt to new and potentially challenging industry trends.

All in all, the future is looking bright here at Industrial Media and IPC. We’ve laid the groundwork with our new facility in New York and can now focus on expanding our horizons. There are many interesting projects in the pipeline, and we’re excited about what the future holds.

Eric Towler is vice president and head of post-production at IPC. Towler has played a key role in the exponential growth of IPC in Los Angeles, as well as spearheading the company’s more recent expansions in both Atlanta and New York City. He can be contacted ateric@theIPCorp.com.

For more information, visitwww.avid.comor call 978-640-6789.

WASHINGTON--William Warner, who founded Avid Technology more than three decades ago, was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame last week. He was honored for founding the company and leading the team that developed the first professional NLE, Media Composer. 

Warner's comments upon accepting the honor:

"Inventing is a team sport—no one goes it alone, nor would you want to. I spent the greatest times of my life working with great people.

"Jeff Bedell, Eric Peters and Joe Rice helped transform an idea into the Avid Media Composer from 1987 to 1989. Now 30 years later, Media Composer is still the standard for TV shows and movies. And three of the people who continued to develop the Avid are here tonight: Tim Claman, Randy Fahan and Rob Gonsalves.

"The team is not just the people who help you invent, it's the people who support your energy and the people above you. My wife Allysa, her sister Jenny and husband David are all here today.

"I said inventing is a team sport. I'll go a step further, it's even better than team sports. Once made, inventions live on for decades even centuries and the team that put it together is changed and improved for their whole lives.

"So only very rare people get to invent, right? It's not true. Inventing is something we all do, in our own ways. And I believe that inventing is the core creativity for humanity.

"We are all in this together, and we all invent to help people. So encourage your peers, your children, yourself to join a great team, the invention team." 

BURLINGTON, MASS.—Avid is hopping on the HDR bandwagon with the release of version 8.5 of Avid Media Composer. The video editing software now includes support for high dynamic range workflows, as well as the ability to work with up to 64 audio tracks.

With support for HDR workflows, Media Composer enables users to edit and grade projects with new color specs that display a greater dynamic range than standard video. Users are now able to work on as many as 64 audio tracks, 250 percent more than what was previously available. Another new feature is FrameFlex, which allows users to straighten images by rotating the frame box.

In addition, Media Composer 8.5 features new updates to menus and drop downs, features a high-visibility feedback displayed in the timeline, and has all played frames cached in RAM. Media Composer can be used on OS X 10.11 and Windows 10.

Users can purchase Media Composer 8.5 through the Avid Store. It is available as a free download to current Media Composer users with an active upgrade and support plan or subscription.

BURLINGTON, MASS. – Avid has announced that Media Composer 8.4 is now available. The latest version of the editing software offers accelerated high-resolution workflows, facilitates real-time collaboration, and decreases number of background tasks.

Media Composer 8.4 offers Avid Resolution Independence so users can work with any raster up to 8K, in any format. It also features native high-resolution playback for Panasonic AVC-I, Apple ProRes, Sony XAVC-I and Canon XF-AVC to allow users to mix and match high-resolution media in the timeline. Other features include AAX factory presets, enhanced closed captioning, alpha channel support for QuickTime applications to enhance graphics, effects and composting workflows, and the ability to use Media Composer software and Media Composer | Cloud workflows on a single system.

Avid’s Media Composer 8.4 is now available via online downloads or through authorized Avid resellers.